Megaservers, which we have all played on for at least a couple years, is required for all PvE maps in the game and not just HoT.
As you probably know, the Megaserver was not present on day-one. It was added when it became apparent that people were leaving the game and the PvE maps were woefully under-populated. I mean, you could run around for an hour and encounter just a hand full of people. It was depressing. And, while the core maps don’t require a great number of people for them to function, it was like eating in an empty restaurant. No matter how good the food is, it’s was conspicuous that you were eating alone….
To be fair, WvW is what drives the need for Megaserver. Because people are allied with their home world – as it relates to WvW – Anet had to do something to keep the game alive. Megaserver, in lieu of consolidating servers, was the compromise. Consolidating servers would have sent the wrong message to the gaming community.
I’ve been playing since the head start period, and I remember how at the beginning we would be sent to Overflow Servers, and people were concerned that their gameplay was not “contributing” to their Living World server (mine was Ferguson’s Crossing).
I suspect that Anet will soon divorce WvW from servers, which will simplify how Megaserver works. This is probably why we haven’t seen the changes that they mentioned. The “changes” to Megaserver will be some form of server consolidation relative to WvW.
Once that is done, they will be able to milk the dwindling player base for quite some time – because it will not be so apparent that the number of players is dropping off (which it is).
HoT has not been a “success” – nor is Anet stupid. They needed to find a way out of the Living World promise that they made to the community. The HoT maps were relatively cheap to make (in comparison to the core maps) and a vehicle to transition the game to an inexpensive-to-maintain model. If they lose players, okay. Because the game has gotten very much cheaper to keep alive too.
